


Time to Let Go

by YP_Wingsen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death, Death Eaters, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fred Weasley Lives, Grief/Mourning, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Ron Weasley Dies, Short, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YP_Wingsen/pseuds/YP_Wingsen
Summary: War has taken so many away from Harry Potter; including the people that he had trusted for most of his life. Now, he'll have to learn to let them go.





	Time to Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. All right goes to her. Short story.

Ten weeks. Ten weeks since the dreadful war. Ten weeks, since his best friend had died.

Harry slinked into the armchair in the Gryffindor common room. He looked across from him to see a couch; it was the couch that Ron used to sit in next to him, and they would laugh about his jokes and talk about Quidditch. The room felt empty. The fire crackled from the fireplace.

A stray hand landed on his shoulder, and squeezed. Harry looked behind him to see Ginny and Hermione, the red hair being the one to grab him.

Ginny’s red hair was a messy cluster, as if she had just awoken from bed. Her eyes were sunken, and she was wearing a nightgown. Her hair was wet, which implied that she had just taken a shower.

Hermione looked pretty much the same, except for the hair. Harry knew that Hermione had been one of the most upset people after Ron’s death -- she had spent almost three full days in the dormitories without eating, never forgetting to cast a silence charm on her door. But sometimes, very faintly, Harry would hear sobs from behind the door. It made his heart sink to hear them.

Hermione settled on the couch, and looked glumly at the red carpeted floor. Ginny took her seat on the arm of Harry’s chair, and she began to stroke his head. She too stared into the fireplace. The fire crackled.

“... Do you still miss him?”

Harry hated when people asked him the question. It reminded him that Ron was gone. That he wasn’t there anymore to tell jokes and make them laugh. That he wasn’t there to defend Harry from the ones who had tried to kill him more than twice. That he wasn’t there to comfort his family, him, and Hermione, and that he wasn’t there to tend to everyone’s inner wounds.

“Do you?” Harry tossed the question back, not wanting to answer. Ginny moved to stroke his shoulder.

“I still remember the time he almost made an unbreakable vow with Fred and George to protect me. They threatened him that they’d hex me if he refused to do it.” Ginny choked on a sob. “He said he couldn’t let that happen.”

Harry looked over at Hermione, who was now already fast asleep on the couch. He spotted a tear streak on her face, her eyelashes beaded. His chest felt tight.

“We met at King’s Cross --” Harry said. “Your mother showed me how to get onto the platform, and he was there. Then he asked me if he could sit in my compartment. I said yes. From that day, we were best friends. I couldn’t ask for a better mate -- he was the best, the greatest I could ever have.”

“He was a great friend. If it wasn’t for that stupid death eater, if it wasn’t for that stupid Voldemort…” Harry felt his own teeth grind as red flashed in his eyes. Then, after a moment, he relaxed, and leaned back into the armchair. He could never forget the day his friend had died.

…

“Hermione, watch out!” Ron pushed both of them out of the way, and Hermione herself shot back a stunning spell.

“Stupefy!” She cried out -- a red bolt of light whizzed past and hit a death eater square in the back. He fell, wand dropping to his side.

Harry staggered up from the ground, pulling Ron up with him. He pointed his wand at a death eater, who was currently in a duel with Remus Lupin.

“Expelliarmus!” Harry shouted, and the death eater’s wand was knocked out of his hand, flying into the crowds of battle.

“Go, go, go!” Ron exclaimed as he patted Harry on the back, and pulled Hermione with him. Harry broke out of his momentary stupor and sprinted after his best friend. Spells and curses whizzed past his head; he felt himself shudder as one nearly hit him. If they could just make it to the school building --

Then they were facing a death eater, a black cloak draped over his head, wand pointed towards them. Ron and Harry immediately raised their wands, and pointed it at him. He didn’t recognize who the man was, but the notable sneer on his face made Harry feel uncomfortable all the same. And then they were all waiting for someone to make the very first move when --

“Avada kedavra!” The death eater laughed, his wand pointed directly at Hermione and Harry. The green streak of light seemed to sail towards them in slow motion. This was it. He was going to die, he was never going to see who won the war, he was never going to be killing Voldemort. This was it. Harry closed his eyes, and waited for the final blow to come; but it didn’t.

Harry opened his eyes, and watched in terror as Ron stepped in front of them both, arms outstretched in a protective pose. He pushed both of them back, and turned to Harry that he could see his teary expression for the last time. He was smiling, but there was no doubt that the smile was a short, final way of saying goodbye.

Before he could do anything, the bolt of green hit Ron directly on the chest, and Harry watched as his friend began to fall.

Ron’s body hit the bloody floor with a hard thud; his wand toppled from his grasp. Harry suddenly couldn’t hear anything but his own raggedy breath. His vision began to blur from tears. He looked into Ron’s lifeless, grey eyes, which once used to be a bright shade of blue. There was no denying it; Ron was dead.

Harry felt as if the world was collapsing around him, crushing his heart. He fell to the ground, pulled Ron’s body into his arms.

“Ron!” He screamed; his voice felt like acid ripping through his throat. “Ron!”

His dull, lifeless grey orbs stared into his as tears blinded Harry’s vision. Harry stared at him silently, feeling his body tremble. Hermione was sobbing over Ron’s torso, tears running freely down her cheeks.

Then, something happened within him. It started deep down in his chest, a seed of rage. Of revenge. Of hate. Something dark and terrible. And then it exploded, bursting through his lungs, through his neck, through his arms and legs. Through his mind.

He let go of Ron, stood up, shaking, turned to face the death eater. The man let out a mad laugh as he threw his head back in glee.

And then Harry snapped. He completely and utterly snapped.

Forgetting that he was a wizard, that he had a wand, he rushed forward, threw himself on the death eater, grasping with his fingers like claws. He found the man’s throat, squeezed, fell to the ground on top of him. He straddled the death eater’s torso, gripped him with his legs so he couldn’t escape. Harry started punching.

He held the death eater down with his left hand, pushing down on the man’s neck, as his right fist rained punches upon his face, one after another. Down and down and down, slamming his balled knuckles into the death eater’s cheek and nose. There was crunching, there was blood, there were horrible screams. Harry didn’t know which were louder -- the man’s or his own. He beat him -- beat him as he released every ounce of rage he’d ever owned.

And then he was being pulled away by Hermione and Neville, who had appeared out of nowhere, Harry’s arms still flailing even when they only hit air. They dragged him across the floor; he fought them, squirmed, yelled to be left alone. His eyes remained on the death eater, lying there, still; Harry could feel the hatred pouring out, as if a visible line of flame connected them.

And then, just like that, it all vanished. There were only thoughts of Ron.

He threw off Hermione’s and Neville’s grip, ran to the limp, lifeless body of his friend. He grabbed him, pulled him back into his arms, ignoring the frozen look of death on his face.

“No!” Harry shouted, sadness consuming him completely. “No!”

Hermione was there, put her hand on his shoulder. Harry grabbed it with his left hand as he held Ron with the other; he felt her trembling and shaking with sobs.

“It wasn’t supposed to be him!” He screamed, realizing even as he did so that his voice was laced with something wrong. Almost insanity. “It was never supposed to be him!”

Hermione didn’t respond, only sobbed harder as she put her arms around Harry’s body, placing a flat palm onto Ron’s cold chest, eyes squeezed shut, tears drenching her face.

Harry hugged Ron to his chest, squeezed him tightly as possible, as if that could somehow bring him back, or show thanks for saving his life, or being his best and very first mate.

Harry wept freely, as the war went on, clinging to Hermione, who sat at Ron’s side, kissing his forehead and cheek continuously. Neville stood right next to them, tear marks on his cheeks as he looked helplessly at the body who he had once been able to call his friend. Hermione’s great, racking sobs shook Harry’s heart like the sounds of tortured pain.

Harry, mustering up courage, looked back into the dull, grey eyes of his friend, lifeless as a ghost.

“Ron.”

The name hung over them like death, and they all knew he’d never wake up again.

…

“Maybe… it’s just time to let go.”

Ginny, who had been resting her head on Harry’s, slowly lifted up.

“Hmm?”

“... Maybe it’s time… to let go of everything.” He looked back into the fireplace; the fire burned, the only sound filling the common room.

“Do you think everyone’s ready yet? To… you know.” Ginny questioned silently, as she glanced at Hermione sleeping on the couch.

“Ron wouldn’t want us to be like this.” Harry replied, placed a hand gently on Ginny’s, and stroked. “He’d want us to be happy. He wouldn’t want us to mourn.” He looked at Ginny’s tired, sunken expression. “Let’s do what Ron wants us to do.”

“... For Ron?” Ginny said after a short moment of silence. Her eyes were brimming with tears, on the verge of spilling.

“For Ron.” Harry replied, and smiled sadly. Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry, and squeezed, hugging him. Harry did the same, and closed his eyes contentedly.

‘Thanks for everything… best friend.’ Harry thought in his mind as he encoiled his arms around Ginny. And somewhere, he swore he heard Ron answer back.

‘No problem, mate. Take care of Hermione and Ginny will you? I’ll kill you if anything happens to them.’

Harry laughed through tears, and smiled.

He had let go.


End file.
